RapidWeaver FAQ

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RapidWeaver FAQ - Downloads

I would like to add a .pdf (or any other file or folder) for visitors to download it if they would like. How can I do this?

Depending on the content and other things you may consider taking a screen shot of the file and embed the pictures to your website. If that’s not a solution then go on reading...

Whether you want to add a Microsoft Word (.doc), PowerPoint (.ppt or .pps), Excel (.xls) or a folder the procedure is always the same. You have to make a zip of it and then link to it from within iWeb.

The story is a bit different for .pdf files. A lot of people have a plugin in their browser which enables them to read pdf files directly in the browser without downloading them. However not all people have it. So if you want the download to start when people click on a text link or an image link then you will have to make a zip file. If you don’t zip it it will open in the browser or download (depending on whether they have the plugin or not).

Chapter 1: Using RapidWeaver’s download pageChapter 2: How to offer downloads in general (works for any kind of file and any kind of page)Chapter 3: Another way to add Microsoft Office files to your websiteChapter 4: Another way to add PDF files to your website

Chapter 1: Using RapidWeaver’s download page

Go to Add => File Sharing

Hit “+” at the bottom of the page to add a new download.

Source type => File

Double-click the empty space under “Source” and choose the File you want to have available for download.

Write a title and a description for it.

Chapter 2: How to offer downloads in general (works for any kind of file and any kind of page)

1. Put the file or folder you want to offer as a download on your Desktop2. For the download process to start automatically when the link is clicked you have to make a .zip out of the file or folder you want to offer as a download.

Select the file or folder and in the upper menu (or Finder bar) go to File and choose "Create Archive" or "Compress" (depending on the OS version you're running) or right-click (ctrl+click) on it and choose "Create Archive" or "Compress". On your Desktop a new file will appear named yourfileorfoldername.zip

Alternatively download YemuZip, open YemuZip, drop the file you want to make a zip file of in the appropriate area of the YemuZip application, hit OK and the zip will be generated.

3. If you already have a downloads or media folder on your server where you upload files which are not going directly into RapidWeaver drop your .zip file in it.

If you don’t have such a folder yet make a new folder and call it downloads or media or something. Put your .zip file and all future files you want to offer as a download into this folder

4. Take the downloads or media folder and upload it to the root of your server (If you don't know what the root is or how this is done read it here)

For MobileMe go to the Finder menu and select Go/iDisk/My iDisk/ or hit Schift+Command(Apple)+i and then go to /Web/Sites/. Drop the folder you created in step 3 into the "Sites" folder.

5. Go to RapidWeaver and make a link. The URL will be...

http://yourdomain.com/Downloads/yourfileorfoldername.zip

where...

http://yourdomain.com is your domain or http://web.me.com/username/ if publishing to MobileMe/Downloads/ is the name of the folder you created in step 3 in which you put the downloadable filesyourfileorfoldername.zip is the name of the downloadable file

6. When people click on the link the download will start automatically.

For PDF files you could also link directly to the PDF file without zipping it. In this case the pdf would open in the browser and not start downloading. People could then right-click on the link and choose "Download linked file as" if they wanted to download it. So you have to choose whether you want the download starting automatically (.zip) or not (no zip).